PHOENIX -- The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said Friday it is planning another crime suppression operation with the next two weeks.

According to a news release, deputies from the Maricopa Sheriff’s office have detained 77 undocumented immigrants, charging them with human smuggling charges.

As Sheriff Joe Arpaio explains, arrests have increased following the commencement of a program that trains its 900 deputies to detect and arrest illegal immigrants.In essence he acts as if immigration laws were a state matter and not a federal.

The arrests were concluded at four traffic stops and at one safe house discovered by the deputies earlier this week.

The new training program came about after the sheriff and his deputies were stripped of their authority to act as federal immigration agents.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio has arrogantly defied U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement in a quote from The Wall Street Journal he said “We have the inherent right to enforce federal immigration law. If Washington doesn't like it, I recommend they change the laws."

According to the article, ICE has responded saying, "Sheriff Arpaio's efforts to conduct immigration-enforcement actions do not derive from any ICE-delegated federal authority."